The Great Escape Plan

The past few years have not been kind to Dillinger Escape Plan. Since the release of the magnificent, skull-pounding Miss Machine in 2004, the band has suffered through a busload of lineup changes and tour cancellations, mostly stemming from health problems. Nerve damage forced guitarist Brian Benoit to quit the band, and founding guitarist Ben Weinman suffered a rotator cuff injury which pulled Dillinger off of 2005's Gigantour. In late 2007, Weinman and drummer Chris Pennie were the only two original members left in the band, but the past few months have seen Pennie quitting to join emo-prog wankers Coheed & Cambria and Weinman breaking his foot and canceling a tour. Somehow, along the way, Dillinger Escape Plan made one hell of a great album, Ire Works.


Ire Works is not going to win back the fans who were annoyed by the relatively melodic moments on their last album, 2004's Miss Machine. As brutal as Miss Machine was (Rolling Stone panned it as being 'too heavy'), it alienated some listeners who craved the sonic assault of their debut, Calculating Infinity. That monster of an album approached the G.G. Allin standard of a record declaring war on the listener. But for a band with an already very established past, Dillinger Escape Plan are showing no sign of turning back. Ire Works takes Dillinger to a new level of brutality while also stretching their melodic sensibilities further than anyone had any right to believe they could go, making it not just their most accomplished and impressive album to date, but quite possibly the year's best. Musically, it's in the same league as the newest by Nine Inch Nails, High on Fire, Grinderman, and Radiohead, but none of those bands have outdone themselves to the extent that Dillinger have.



Opening tracks 'Fix Your Face' and 'Lurch' are classic Dillinger noise barrages, and their no holds barred assault is the fastest opening to ever grace a Dillinger record. "You want a fiction you can't have," bellows charismatic screamer Greg Puciato, and while he's probably screaming about some girl, he could easily be talking about the noise-metal enthusiasts who'd prefer than DEP not grow as a band. It's moments like those two songs that accentuate the almost poppy verses on the slithering, syncopated 'Black Bubblegum,' which discloses Dillinger's edgy pop sensibilities. Like Ween, Dillinger Escape Plan seem weirdest when they're at their most accessible--the listeners can't believe their own ears and are left wondering if the band is about to pull the rug out from under them. With tracks like 'Bubblegum' and the 2-minute epic 'Sick on Sunday,' the latter of which couples Ministry and Aphex Twin influences with a falsetto-heavy second half, Dillinger have proven that they can flirt with accessibility without losing any of their bite.

Most bands that toss off minute-long interludes are wasting CD space, but there is not a wasted moment on Ire Works, from the hiccuping 'When Acting as a Wave' to the Penderecki-resembling strings on 'When Acting as a Particle.' Perhaps Dillinger are proving to Pennie, who was responsible for similarly short tracks on Miss Machine, that they can get along fine without him, but whatever the case may be, Dillinger work wonders in preserving the art of the album, throwing out twists and turns that make for an enthralling ride. It is also to their credit that they made the rare metal album that gets better as it goes along. The horn section that Dillinger enlists on 'Milk Lizard' not only doesn't suck, it gives flavor to what may be their most hard-rock sounding and maybe their best song to date. Lest one think that Dillinger were making their Black Album, 'Milk Lizard' is bookended by the eardrum-drilling 'Party Smasher' and '82588,' the latter of which takes it's title from the release date of ...And Justice for All. In the next 20 years, some band is going to name a song '111307'--I'd bet on it.

But Dillinger really proves their mettle (metal?) on the last three songs. 'Dead as History' recalls prime Nine Inch Nails, and would have been a solid way to end the album, but raging 'Horse Hunter' manages to upstage even that, thanks in part to a guest spot from Mastodon's Brent Hinds. But there's no way to prepare for how the absolutely fantastic 'Mouths of Ghosts' closes the album. After a beautifully sparse beginning, it works into a piano-led buildup that gives new drummer Gil Sharone a chance to shine on percussion before roaring into an epic of Zeppelin-esque proportions. 'You were a mouth without a heart, an action without meaning,' belts out Puciato near the songs climax, 'And you walk afraid.' While the last chord rings out, the listener gets a chance to regain their senses--drained, awed, and jonesing for a lot more.

One of my favorite writers, Amy Dupcak, wrote a first-rate review of Ire Works--check that out here...

Dillinger shows can get pretty rowdy...